. SUTURES. 73 



especially if it be deep, so that the discharge may escape. Before 

 closing the wound, any blood clots that may be in it should be 

 washed out with an antiseptic solution (p. 67) ; for their presence 

 would interfere with the process of healing. 



The edges of a superficial wound may be kept in contact by 

 strips of ordinary adhesive plaster ; or of cotton cloth covered with 

 glue, or sat rated with collodion. Shaving the hair round a wound 

 is advisable, as it will help to keep the part clean. 



Sutures (stitches for drawing together the edges of a wound), if 

 possible, should be dispensed with ; they are apt to blemish, and 

 are not very successful in horse practice : a fact probably owing to 

 the difficulty experienced in keeping the patients at rest. Silver, 

 or annealed iron wire of different sizes, made for the purpose, forms 

 a good general suture for wounds, especially those likely to gape. 

 These sutures keep the part cleaner and can be more easily 



Fig. 32. — Reef knot. 



tightened or loosened than silk thread or horse-hair, either of 

 which may be made germ-free by soaking for a quarter of an hour 

 in a solution of carbolic acid in water, 1 to 20. As an additional 

 precaution, the silk thread might be previously kept in boiling 

 water for a few minutes. Prepared catgut may be used for this 

 purpose. Ordinary catgut is difficult to make free from germs, 

 and is apt to dissolve in the tissues before its duties are fulfilled. 

 The chief objections to the employment of sutures are the causation 

 of tension, which, if continued, is certain to give rise to, or to 

 increase already existing, inflammation and the formation of centres 

 of putrefaction. The edges of the wound should not be brought 

 together, if by doing so, the divided surfaces, at a lower depth, will 

 be liable to " bag out," and form a pouch for the accumulation of 

 discharges.. 



The two kinds of. stitching usually employed are the interrupted 

 and the twisted suture. Each stitch of the former is complete in 

 itself. The latter consists of a curved pin which is kept in position 

 by thread twisted between the two ends in a figure of 8. 



